Ken,
WTF will and does work in lots of situations. What must be understood is not the "finish" that is provided but the climate of the pen in use, and then tailor the finish and finishing process to the need.
Most people think of wood pens as the same as furniture. Furniture is not handled like pens are. They are not subjected to going from a temperature and humidity controlled environment (home or office) to the outside with wide temp ranges and humidity swings and to the humidity of a pocket, or heat in a car, or caustic oils of a hot or cold sweaty palm a dozen times a day. Furniture and furniture finish is not made for that. If a person cleans the pen after use, then it will do well. If not, then the finish will break down over time. And even then it is dependent upon individual use and chemistry, plus the finishing process that is used.
I am going to try it sometime in the future. I will probably dip it - do a search for "dipping" - which goes back to 2004 on this forum. To me, what really needs to be watched for is the "curing". Proper "curing" is what gives most finishes it durability. While instructions will say that you can add a second coat in an hour or two, the curing takes longer - 12 to 24 hours or even 48. It has been my experience that adding a second and third coat of finish in the instructional time allowed between coats - that doubles and triples the curing time beyond what one coat would take.
Curing, or "proper" curing, before buffing or waxing is what will give a long term durable and protective finish. While I never did the lacquer work of Japanese artists, the patience with working with lacquer impacted me into realizing how necessary the proper curing of different kinds of finishes are to durability.